Amazon isn’t going anywhere. In fact, Google calls them their biggest competitor. Over the last year I have spent a lot of time on Amazon. I have helped clients sell product, launch a book (and spent a ton of time marketing it) and studied how to make sales. In this guide, we talk about selling on Amazon. This is how to optimize your product for peak amazon sales.
Selling on Amazon, The Ultimate Guide to Amazon Product Marketing
Selling on Amazon has been taking off. It is a fast growing online marketing channel.
“In 2009, nearly a quarter of shoppers started research for an online purchase on a search engine like Google and 18 percent started on Amazon, according to a Forrester Research study. By [2011], almost a third started on Amazon and just 13 percent on a search engine. Product searches on Amazon have grown 73 percent over the last year while searches on Google Shopping have been flat, according to comScore.”
Note, we are talking specifically about Google shopping and people looking for products. Not the main Google search engine.
Here are the best ways to offer customers a great experience on Amazon, maximizing your conversion rates and Amazon search rank.
The Ultimate Guide to Amazon Product Marketing
Interested in Selling on Amazon? Have an Amazing, Optimize Product Description
Your Amazon product descriptions are important. Each time someone clicks on your product they see your description; obviously the better descriptions get more conversions. This in turn is how your products get higher search ranks because the Amazon algorithm favors products that sell.
Goal: persuade shoppers to click on your listing for more information
You need to convince shoppers fast that it’s your listing that they want and need. Use a strong headline at the beginning. It should convince your shopper to read the rest of the description.
Goal: differentiate your product description
If multiple sellers carry the same item, you need to make yours stand out. Do not use the generic description that is on most of your competitors’ items. It has to be 100% unique!
The maximum length of each product description is 2,000 characters. You can also include basic formatting with HTML in your description.
Goal: turn shoppers into committed buyers
To achieve this goal, your product descriptions should have the same intensity, focus and components as a sales letter: this means each description should include benefits, call-to-action, guarantee, and anything else you’d include in your sales letter copy. I can’t stress this enough, really take the time to make this the best landing page possible for the product. Otherwise, the buyer will not thing you are the real deal.
Goal: know what the consumer wants and needs
Someone told me this tip the other day and it is a good one…
Research the listings and reviews of your competitors. You want to bring the most benefit to the table for your specific target consumers, so you need to know what all of their options are and how those options meet (or fail to meet) their needs. Bad reviews of similar products show you how to describe your own offerings; you can shore up your descriptions to avoid the same disappointments and other problems you’ve seen in poor reviews.
Goal: Use important keywords in descriptions, but not all keywords
Amazon will give higher rank to products that sell well, so your keywords don’t really affect this. However, to make the connection between Google searchers and your Amazon listings, you do need keywords. Aim to have your main keyword used logically in your title, and then again two or three times in your 200 word product description, one of those within the first 100 words.
In fact, optimizing for selling on Amazon is really a lot like SEO. You need a keyword assignment and its a great idea to optimize similarly when it comes to titles, descriptions, etc.
Step by step product descriptions
Build your product descriptions based on this structure to maximize your results.
The Ultimate Guide to Amazon Product Marketing – Product Descriptions
Headline
For our headline we use a descriptive, engaging product title with the most critical keywords for the product. And remember, don’t assume extra knowledge on the part of shoppers. For example, “SuperStealthX” may sound cool but it isn’t a great headline; shoppers may or may not know what that is. Instead, opt for “ SuperStealthX Portable Charger Pack For Android” which tells shoppers exactly what the product is and does so using keywords.
Sub-Headline
We craft this sub-headline similarly, using alternate keywords and more describing details. It is a great idea to use as many descriptive options as possible for your subheadings.
For example.
- Title: Nike Men’s Hypervenom Genio Leather FG Soccer Cleat
- Subheading 1: Outdoor Soccer Cleat best for Turf
- Subheading 2: Comes in Leather and Synthetic Leather with Rubber Sole
- Subheading 3: Best Nike Men’s Soccer Cleat for Grass-field Play
Here is an example product on Amazon that has been done poorly. If they were to update this with terms, it would show up much more.
Example Optimization for Selling on Amazon
First, decide what headline you’d like to use. Remember, it should be catchy and sell your product, at least enough to merit a click.
Headline: Indestructible Aluminum Wallet Protects Your Against Identity Theft
Sub-Headline: Never Get Your Credit Cards Cloned Again with RFID Resistant Aluminum Case
The example product here, an aluminum wallet, is easy to find on Amazon. Looking for these kinds of wallets I see from various bad reviews that users have some basic complaints:
- a) the wallet doesn’t hold too many items
- b) the wallet requires that you fold bills
- c) the wallet can get scratched easily
The Ultimate Guide to Amazon Product Marketing – Reviews
The complaints that come up frequently are the ones we should address. So knowing these issues have come up for other sellers, I’ll add a few bullet points like this:
– A perfect fit for 6 credit cards and $100
– Made from highest quality aluminum available on the market
– Streamlined size for anti-theft protection
In other words, I’m letting buyers know that although they can’t carry every piece of paper around in this smaller wallet, they can carry essentials and prevent theft, which is the point. I’ve also emphasized that the aluminum is the best available. It may scratch, but aluminum is the right substance to resist RFID readers.
Guarantee
Backed up by a hassle-free replacement guarantee, free of charge
Make the strongest guarantee that you can support.
Call to Action
Click here to protect yourself against identity theft now.
Images
The images that depict your product descriptions are also important. Aim for four to five high-quality photos per listing, and if there is a useful, short video of the product in use, use that too. Remember, Amazon’s image guidelines look like this:
The Ultimate Guide to Amazon Product Marketing – Images Guidelines
- Images must have a plain white background
- No text or watermarks on images
- The product should take up at least 80 percent of the image
- You cannot use drawings or illustrations in place of photos
- The ideal size is 1,000 x 1,000 pixels; your customers should be able to click on images and see the products in detail
Conclusion
Remember, most people selling on Amazon are not doing everything they can to produce great product descriptions (but the best Amazon sellers are!). If you follow this template and invest a bit of time, your product descriptions will be far better than those of your competitors. Did I miss any Amazon product marketing tips that you think are important? Let me know in the comments.
